Current Challenges in Detecting Food Allergens by Shotgun and Targeted Proteomic Approaches: A Case Study on Traces of Peanut Allergens in Baked Cookies

There is a need for selective and sensitive methods to detect the presence of food allergens at trace levels in highly processed food products. In this work, a combination of non-targeted and targeted proteomics approaches are used to illustrate the difficulties encountered in the detection of the major peanut allergens Ara h 1, Ara h 2 and Ara h 3 from a representative processed food matrix. Shotgun proteomics was employed for selection of the proteotypic peptides for targeted approaches via selective reaction monitoring. Peanut presence through detection of the proteotypic Ara h 3/4 peptides AHVQVVDSNGNR (m/z 432.5, 3+) and SPDIYNPQAGSLK (m/z 695.4, 2+) was confirmed and the developed method was able to detect peanut presence at trace levels (≥10 μg peanut g−1 matrix) in baked cookies

Localizing Sagittarius A* and M87 on Microarcsecond Scales with Millimeter VLBI

With the advent of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a millimeter/sub-millimeter very-long baseline interferometer (VLBI), it has become possible to image a handful of black holes with sub-horizon resolutions. However, these images do not translate into microarcsecond absolute positions due to the lack of absolute phase information when an external phase reference is not used. Due to the short atmospheric coherence time at these wavelengths, nodding between the source and phase reference is impractical. However, here we suggest an alternative scheme which makes use of the fact that many of the VLBI stations within the EHT are arrays in their own right. With this we show that it should be possible to absolutely position the supermassive black holes at the centers of the Milky Way (Sgr A*) and M87 relative to nearby objects with precisions of roughly 1 microarcsecond. This is sufficient to detect the perturbations to Sgr A*'s position resulting from interactions with the stars and stellar-mass black holes in the Galactic cusp on year timescales, and severely constrain the astrophysically relevant parameter space for an orbiting intermediate mass black hole, implicated in some mechanisms for producing the young massive stars in the Galactic center. For M87, it allows the registering of millimeter images, in which the black hole may be identified by its silhouette against nearby emission, and existing larger scale radio images, eliminating present ambiguities in the nature of the radio core and inclination, opening angle, and source of the radio jet.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap

Estimation of cancer incidence and mortality attributable to alcohol drinking in china

Background. Cancer constitutes a serious burden of disease worldwide and has become the second leading cause of death in China. Alcohol consumption is causally associated with the increased risk of certain cancers. Due to the current lack of data and the imperative need to guide policymakers on issues of cancer prevention and control, we aim to estimate the role of alcohol on the cancer burden in China in 2005. Methods. We calculated the proportion of cancers attributable to alcohol use to estimate the burden of alcohol-related cancer. The population attributable fraction was calculated based on the assumption of no alcohol drinking. Data on alcohol drinking prevalence were from two large-scale national surveys of representative samples of the Chinese population. Data on relative risk were obtained from meta-analyses and large-scale studies. Results. We found that a total of 78,881 cancer deaths were attributable to alcohol drinking in China in 2005, representing 4.40% of all cancers (6.69% in men, 0.42% in women). The corresponding figure for cancer incidence was 93,596 cases (3.63% of all cancer cases). Liver cancer was the main alcohol-related cancer, contributing more than 60% of alcohol-related cancers. Conclusions. Particular attention needs to be paid to the harm of alcohol as well as its potential benefits when making public health recommendations on alcohol drinking. \ua9 2010 Liang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Effects of estrogens and bladder inflammation on mitogen-activated protein kinases in lumbosacral dorsal root ganglia from adult female rats

BACKGROUND: Interstitial cystitis is a chronic condition associated with bladder inflammation and, like a number of other chronic pain states, symptoms associated with interstitial cystitis are more common in females and fluctuate during the menstrual cycle. The aim of this study was to determine if estrogens could directly modulate signalling pathways within bladder sensory neurons, such as extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases. These signalling pathways have been implicated in neuronal plasticity underlying development of inflammatory somatic pain but have not been as extensively investigated in visceral nociceptors. We have focused on lumbosacral dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons projecting to pelvic viscera (L1, L2, L6, S1) of adult female Sprague-Dawley rats and performed both in vitro and in vivo manipulations to compare the effects of short- and long-term changes in estrogen levels on MAPK expression and activation. We have also investigated if prolonged estrogen deprivation influences the effects of lower urinary tract inflammation on MAPK signalling. RESULTS: In studies of isolated DRG neurons in short-term (overnight) culture, we found that estradiol and estrogen receptor (ER) agonists rapidly stimulated ER-dependent p38 phosphorylation relative to total p38. Examination of DRGs following chronic estrogen deprivation in vivo (ovariectomy) showed a parallel increase in total and phosphorylated p38 (relative to beta-tubulin). We also observed an increase in ERK1 phosphorylation (relative to total ERK1), but no change in ERK1 expression (relative to beta-tubulin). We observed no change in ERK2 expression or phosphorylation. Although ovariectomy increased the level of phosphorylated ERK1 (vs. total ERK1), cyclophosphamide-induced lower urinary tract inflammation did not cause a net increase of either ERK1 or ERK2, or their phosphorylation. Inflammation did, however, cause an increase in p38 protein levels, relative to beta-tubulin. Prior ovariectomy did not alter the response to inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide new insights into the complex effects of estrogens on bladder nociceptor signalling. The diversity of estrogen actions in these ganglia raises the possibility of developing new ways to modulate their function in pelvic hyperactivity or pain states

Is behavioural activation effective in the treatment of depression in young people? : A systematic review and meta-analysis

PURPOSE: Depression is currently the leading cause of illness and disability in young people. Evidence suggests that behavioural activation (BA) is an effective treatment for depression in adults but less research focuses on its application with young people. This review therefore examined whether BA is effective in the treatment of depression in young people. METHODS: A systematic review (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews reference: CRD42015020453), following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, was conducted to examine studies that had explored behavioural interventions for young people with depression. The electronic databases searched included the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus, PsychINFO, and Scopus. A meta-analysis employing a generic inverse variance, random-effects model was conducted on the included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to examine whether there were overall effects of BA on the Children's Depression Rating Scale - Revised. RESULTS: Ten studies met inclusion criteria: three RCTs and seven within-participant designs (total n = 170). The review showed that BA may be effective in the treatment of depression in young people. The Cochrane risk of bias tool and the Moncrieff scale used to assess the quality of the included studies revealed a variety of limitations within each. CONCLUSIONS: Despite demonstrating that BA may be effective in the treatment of depression in young people, the review indicated a number of methodological problems in the included studies meaning that the results and conclusions should be treated with caution. Furthermore, the paucity of studies in this area highlights the need for further research. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Currently BA is included within National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2009) guidelines as an evidence-based treatment for depression in adults with extensive research supporting its effectiveness. It is important to investigate whether it may also be effective in treating young people. Included studies reported reductions in depression scores across a range of measures following BA. BA may be an effective treatment of depression in young people

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT